Knitting machine



c. MILLER KNITTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 4, 1929 Patented ch 17, 1933 UNITED STTES KNITTING M'AiCli-i New Jersey Application October 4, 1929'. Serial No. 397,424

8 Claims The present invention relates to knitting machines and is herein disclosed as embodied in a straight spring needle machine for knitting fullfashioned fabric employing collectively operated needles and further provided with transfer devices for automatically turning the welt.

In knitting machines of all kinds employing a series of needles and cooperating knitting elements to produce a knitted fabric, difiiculty is experienced in maintaining the needles, which are necesarily unsupported for an appreciable distance below the needle hook, in register at all times with the other elements. Particularly in fine gauge machines, the needles or their cooperating elements are likely to become bent, with consequent interference and damage to the parts.

There are certain points in the knitting operation where it becomes particularly important to secure an accurate spacing of the needles from center to center, as for instance, in the welt turning operation on a machine knitting full-fashioned hosiery. In this operation, a welt bar carrying a series of hooks must be inserted between the needles to take the loops of the first course and then must be very accurately registered with the needles to transfer the loops back onto the needles after a sufficient amount of welt fabric has been knitted. This operation is ordinarily carried out by hand and requiresthe services of an operative with long experience and a high degree of skill. Where any needles have become bent, or for any reason are out of line, these must be pliered by hand in order to permit the welt bar to be registered accurately with the needles, or dropped stitches and faulty fabric is certain to result.

Where it has been attempted to perform automatically special operations, such as that above described for turning the welt, the greatest difllculty has been encountered in registering the needles with the transfer elements, due to the tendency of the needles with continued use to become slightly bent and consequently out of line.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and eflicient means for quickly and accurately spacing the needles to insure that the center to center distance between the needles is uniform at one or more points in the knitting operation, even though certain of 50 the needles or their cooperating elements may have been bent out of line.

With this object in view, one feature of the invention consists in the provision of elements which may be interposed between the needles and which have a thickness equal substantially to the distance between adjacent needles so that the needles can be brought into accurate alignment from center to center at the desired point in the knitting operation.

All knitting machines employing a series of needles must be provided with knockover bits of some description which extend between the needles and cooperate therewith to cast the old loops off the needle hooks and assist in the forming of the new loops. As ordinarily constructed, 5 these knockover elements must be made from. sufficiently thin stock to allow an adequate amount of clearance between the needles and the adjacent knockovers to prevent jamming or cutting of the yarn held on the needle hooks. 70

These elements are, therefore, substantially unsupported at and beyond the knockover level during the knitting. Particularly in fine gauge machines where both the needles and knockover elements must be made from very thin stock, the needles are likely to become bent with continued use and by coming into contact with the knockover bits are likely to bend these elements and cause the needles to be thrown still further out of line.

In its more specific aspects, therefore, one feature of the present invention contemplates the provision of especially constructed lmockover bits, which, in addition to the usual functions performed by these elements, are adapted for one position of the needles relative to the knockover bits to substantially fill the spaces between the needles and thus to secure an accurate spacing of the needles-from center to center.

' It has been found in practice that in the operation of the machine herein described which is provided with relatively stationary knockover bits and transfer elements which are automatically brought in to transfer the loops held thereon back to the needles, there is a tendency for the newly knitted fabric to be jammed between the knockover bits and the transfer elements so that the fabric is not properly'tensioned and cleared from the needles.

Another feature of the present invention, therefore, contemplates a construction and operation of the knockover bits with relation to the needles to remove all danger of interference with the tensioning of the newly formed fabric loops and to insure that the fabric loops are cleared to the backs of the needles.

The several features of the invention consist also in the devices, combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed which, together with the advantages to be obml tained therefrom, will be readily understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection" with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view in side elevation illustrating a knockover bit and its associated needle in a special position to cooperate with an associated transfer element, the normal operating position of these parts being shown by the dotted line positions of the needles and the position of the knockover bits in full lines; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the needles and transfer elements in Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

The construction herein disclosed as embodying, in a preferred form, the several features of the present invention, is particularly adapted for use with the spring needle knitting machine illustrated in the applicants pending application Ser. No. 351,997, filed April 2, 1929. In this machine, the needles are fixedly mounted on a needle support to move collectively, being given a lateral movement to press the needle beards against fixed pressing surfaces and an advancing and retracting movement to cast off the old loops and draw down new ones against the knockover surfaces.

A welt turning mechanism is provided which acts automatically to take the loops of the first knitted course and after a sufficient length of fabric has been knitted to form the welt to transfer these loops again to the needles. This mechanism comprises a series of transfer units, each including a welt hook which is inserted between the needles to take the yarn and a pair of transfer elements to place the loops back on the needles at the end of the welt turning operation.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the needles are indicated at 6, the knockover bits at 8, and the transfer elements for returning the loops to the needles in the welt turning operation at 10. A rod for tensioning the fabric during the welt turning operation is indicated at 12.

The knockover bits are made from relatively heavy stock in order to'strengthen them so far as possible and to prevent them from becoming bent. In order to allow a free passage for the yarn between the needle hook and the adjacent knockover surfaces, the knockover bits are provided with thinned portions 14 adjacent to the knockover surfaces which extend along the whole length of the knockover surface and downwardly a distance suflicient to permit free play to the yarn between the hooks and the adjacent. knockover bits at the lowest point to which the needles are withdrawn in knocking over the loops. The limit of the movement of the needles with'relation to the knockover bits in the ordinary course of knitting is indicated by the'dotted hne positions of the needle in Fig. 1.

A thickened portion 16 is formed on the end of each knockover bit which is substantially equal to the distance between adjacent needles and is adapted for one position of the needles with relation to the knockover bits as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 3 to space the needles accurately from center to center so that they will be accurately registered with relation to the transfer elements 10. The needles are provided with corresponding thickened portions indicated at 20 in Fig. 3 which extend an appreciable distance along the shank of the needle so that these elements will be firmly held in position during the advancing movement of the needles to the dotted line position 18 in Fig. 1 to receive the loops from the transfer elements. With this construction and operation of the parts, the needles during the knitting will operate as shown in the dotted line positions in Fig. 1 in the usual manner free from any contact with the knockover bits so that no undesirable wear will take place between these elements. During the welt turning operation, however, when the loops held on the transfer members are to be returned to the needles, the needles are moved to the special position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 opposite the thickened portions 16 of the web holder bits so that these parts at this time are held in accurate alignment with the transfer members.

In order to prevent any tendency of the newly formed fabric to jam between the transfer elements and the knockover bits during the transfer operation with a consequent faulty tensioning of the newly formed loops, a knockover surface is formed on the ends of the knockover bits which is inclined downwardly towards the backs of the needles and is adapted to knock over the loops held on the needle hooks for the special position taken by the needles with relation to the knockover bits during the transfer operation;

The loops are held on the inclined knockover surfaces at a level considerably below that maintained during normal knitting, thus reducing the chance of interference of the newly formed fabric with the transfer elements, and the loops, moreover, are forced to the backs of the needles by the inclined knockover surface so that the fabric will be cleared from the needles independently of the fabric tension.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed is:

1. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a. shank of uniform thickness thinned at the knockover surface, said thinned portion extending below the knockover surface the distance required for yarn clearance, and further provided at its tip with an additional knockover surface, and a thickened portion adapted to fill the space between adjacent needles to accurately register the needles.

2. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness thinned at the knockover surface, said thinned portion extending below the knockover surface the distance required for yarn clearance, and further provided at its tip with an additional knockover surface sufficient for yarn clearance, and a thickened portion adapted to fill the space between adjacent needles to accurately register the needles.

3. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness thinned at the knockover surface, said thinned portion extending below the knockover surface the distance required for yarn clearance and provided at its tip with an additional knockover surface inclined downwardly toward the backs of the needles and provided at a point below that required for yarn clearance with a thickened portion adapted to fill the space between adjacent needles to accurately register the needles.

4. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness and provided at its tip with an additional substantially lower loop engaging surface, said tip being further provided at a point below that required for yarn clearance with a thickened portion adapted to fill the space between adjacent needles to accurately register the needles.

5. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness to provide clearance for a free passage of the shanks of adjacent needles, and provided at its tip with a thickened portion adapted to fill the space between adjacent needles to accurately register the needles, said knockover bit being constructed and arranged to permit said shank portion to lie between the needles during normal knitting and to permit relative movement of the knockover bit and the needle series to bring the thickened portion between the needles only for a special operation of the needles.

6. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness to provide clearance for a. free passage of the shanks of adjacent needles and thinned at the knockover surface, said thinned portion extending below the knockover surface the distance required for yarn clearance, and a thickened portion having a thickness substantially equal to the distance between adjacent needles, said knockover bit being constructed and arranged to permit said thin portion to lie between the needles during normal knitting and to permit relative movement of the knockover bit and the needle series to bring the thickened portion between the needles only for a special operation oil the needles.

tially equal to the distance between adjacent needles, said knockover bit being constructed and arranged to permit said thin portion to lie between the needles during normal knitting and to permit a relative movement of the knockover bit and the needle series to bring the thick portion between the needles only for a special operation of the needles.

8. A knockover bit adapted for use between two adjacent needles of a needle series having a shank of uniform thickness to provide clearance for a free passage of the shanks of adjacent needles and thinned adjacent its knockover surface, said thinned portion extending below the knockover surface to the required degree for yarn clearance, and further provided along a portion of its shank with a thickened portion having a thickness substantially equal to the distance between. adjacent needles, said knockover bit being constructed and arranged to permit said knockover surface to lie between the needles during normal knitting and to permit a relative movement of the knockover bit and the needle series to bring the thickened portion between the needles only for a spe cial operation of the needles.

MAX C. MILLER. 

